美国股神巴菲特向新能源行业投入巨资
这 家太阳能发电厂位于加利福尼亚州南部，项目于今年11月动工，预计2015年完工，投产后产能预计高达5.5亿瓦，是世界两大太阳能项目之一，发电量相当 于半个核反应堆，可为约16万户加州居民供电。同时，工厂每年可减排37.7万吨二氧化碳，相当于7.3万辆汽车的碳排放。
中美能源控股公司董事长格雷格・埃布尔在声明中说，涉足太阳能发电行业是一项战略决策，旨在加强可再生能源的开发利用。
收购消息发布后，第一太阳能股价上涨。
巴菲特认为，投资公共事业“不能致富，但可守财”，在经济形势不好的情况下，此类企业盈利能力稳定。今年前9个月，巴菲特从公共事业和能源企业获得8.88亿美元收入，比去年同期增加13%。
中美能源控股公司是美国主要风力发电厂商，也持有中国新能源企业比亚迪公司的股份。
腾讯财经讯 北京时间12月7日晚间消息，全球最大的薄膜光伏电池制造商美国第一太阳能公司（First Solar）周三同意出售其旗下位于加利福尼亚州的太阳能发电厂给巴菲特旗下的中美能源公司（MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.），这是该公司削减开支计划的一部分。中美能源是巴菲特的伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司旗下的动力部门。
第一太阳能公司旗下的这个总额20亿美元的Topaz太阳能农场项目——建于加利福尼亚州圣路易斯奥比斯波县的一个550兆伏的光电厂——将有能力为16万普通家庭提供足够的可再生电能。美国加利福尼亚州大型电力企业太平洋天然气和电力公司（Pacific Gas & Electric Co.）将根据一个25年的电力收购协议，收购这个光电项目生产的电能。
第一能源公司已经同意为中美能源建设、经营和维护这个Topaz太阳能项目。该太阳能农场预计将在2015年年初之前建成。
第一太阳能公司在今年10月份时曾表示，该公司计划在未来一年削减开支，并寻找机会重新分配经费开支，希望以此为研发等事宜的不断增长的投资融资。该公司此前报道其第三财季盈利攀升了11%，远低于市场分析师平均预期的水平，但其销售额攀升了26%。
受该交易的消息推动，第一太阳能公司股价在周三早盘交易中大幅上涨了12.45%。（忆松）
Buffett's utility company to buy First Solar plant
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Analysis & Opinion
By Matt Daily
Wed Dec 7, 2011 3:24pm EST
(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings said on Wednesday it would make its first move into solar energy with the purchase of First Solar's Topaz Solar Farm power plant in California, one of the two largest under construction in the world.
MidAmerican Energy, the utility arm of Berkshire Hathaway, already operates wind power facilities, and its move into solar comes amid growing worries about the solar industry's ability to financelarge utility-scale projects.
Financial details of the transaction were not available. Shares of First Solar rose as much as 12.5 percent on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.
The deal for the plant, which at 550 megawatts would equal the capacity of another First Solar California project called Desert Sunlight, comes after the company failed to win a U.S. loan guarantee to help finance its construction.
"The fact that Topaz was financed without a DOE loan guarantee is a major milestone in the industry's maturity and evolution," Frank DeRosa, First Solar's senior vice president of project and business development for the Americas, said in an interview.
The Topaz plant, being built in San Luis Obispo County, will have the capacity to generate enough energy to power about 160,000 average California homes, MidAmerican Energy said in a statement.
The deal "demonstrates that solar energy is a commercially viable technology without the support of governmental loan guarantees," Greg Abel, chairman, president and CEO of MidAmerican, said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Reuters had reported about the deal quoting a source familiar with the transaction.
Analysts speculated that the plant's sale price was likely inside the range that First Solar had sold previous projects on a per-watt basis, putting it between $1.65 billion to $1.95 billion.
"If nothing else, what this does is it tells you that First Solar will be able to sell what it makes, and that certainly is better than any other solar company can say at this point," said Jeff Bencik, analyst at Kaufman Bros.
The acquisition dovetails with Berkshire's increasing interest in solar technologies in recent years, the most notable example being its investment in China's BYD Co Ltd.
Though BYD is best known for its electric cars, it is also one of the world's largest battery makers and has a nascent solar panel business as well.
Even though financial details were not disclosed, First Solar's struggles financing the plant suggest that Berkshire likely got a good deal, which fits in with Buffett's value investing strategy.
He famously said earlier this year he had a loaded elephant gun with which he was searching for big deals, and he has made a number of them, including the $9 billion takeover of chemical maker Lubrizol and an $11 billion investment in IBM Corp.
SOLAR SUPPORTER
Ever since Buffett took a stake of nearly 10 percent in BYD during the depths of the financial crisis in late 2008 -- via MidAmerican rather than Berkshire proper -- Buffett-watchers have speculated the company had an interest in using BYD's battery technology at renewable energy plants.
Buffett's long-time business partner Charlie Munger has also been a cheerleader for the potential of solar.
"All kinds of things are going to be possible once we really gear up to harness the sun," Munger once said in a CNNMoney interview. "That has always required cheaper solar and better batteries and they're both coming."
The Topaz plant may qualify for a cash grant totaling 30 percent of its construction costs under a program that expires at the end of 2011. That cash grant program will turn into a tax incentive at the beginning of next year.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co will buy the electricity from Topaz under a 25-year agreement, Des Moines, Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy said.
First Solar had hoped to secure a loan guarantee from the U.S. government to help finance construction of the plant as it had for three other large solar projects this year.
Political pressure on the Department of Energy following the collapse of start-up solar manufacturer Solyndra prompted fresh scrutiny of the loan guarantee application process, and First Solar's Topaz project was not able to meet the September program deadline.
Solyndra, which had received more than $500 million of government funding, collapsed into bankruptcy at the beginning of September.
First Solar's three DOE loan guarantee projects were sold to NextEra Energy Inc, NRG Energy Inc and Exelon Corp, respectively.
MidAmerican's addition to that list shows that investors are becoming more comfortable with solar, DeRosa said.
"As each deal gets done and the number of investors increases, people see that these projects are working well, they get constructed on time, they are on budget and they operate well," he said.
First Solar is the largest U.S. photovoltaic solar company and the world's lowest-cost solar manufacturer.
But along with others in the sector, it has been hard hit by a glut of solar panels on the market that has driven prices down by 40 percent so far this year, narrowing its cost advantage over its rivals in China and Europe.
Shares of First Solar, which had fallen nearly 65 percent through Monday's close, were up 4.6 percent at $48.25 on Wednesday afternoon, off an earlier high of $51.89.
(Reporting by Matt Daily and Ben Berkowitz in New York, Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Krishna N Das in Bangalore; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters, Dave Zimmerman and Matthew Lewis)
Warren Buffett's MidAmerican buys First Solar plant
By Julianne Pepitone @CNNMoneyTech December 7, 2011: 12:29 PM ETNEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Warren Buffett's utility company is making a big buy in the turmoil-filled solar energy market.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a holding company controlled by Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), has agreed to buy the $2 billion Topaz Solar Farm project from First Solar.
While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, MidAmerican likely scored the project at a discount. The once high-flying solar power sector has begun to decline sharply amid a combination of slack demand and massive oversupply. Two high profile U.S. companies -- government-backed Solyndra and Evergreen -- have gone bankrupt, and analysts anticipate more failures ahead.
The Topaz plant, which broke ground last month in California, is one of the two largest solar projects in the world. It's slated to be done by 2015, and is expected to be able to generate enough renewable energy for about 160,000 homes.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. plans to buy the electricity under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
Shares of First Solar (FSLR) rose 8% on the news.
In April, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a mandate that California get 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020. 
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